Every once in a while we throw everything against the wall and make it stick. This was one of those nights!  As far as the steak goes, my favorite cut is ribeye; however, after talking with the butcher, I was informed that the store we were at (Meijer) hadn’t had ribeyes in a few weeks.  Alas, we settled on a strip steak; no it’s not my favorite cut,  but  I’ll make anything work.  

I started with cooking the risotto. 

I had some dried porcini mushrooms and mixed them in with the Arborio rice. I then toasted them with  some olive oil in a sauce pot.  In separate pot I boiled 3.5-4 cups of chicken stock.  In a small skillet I cooked down some sliced baby Bella mushrooms with some diced garlic. 

I simply added some boiling stock a half cup at a time into the Arborio rice, letting the rice absorb the stock as it can.  Be careful to constantly stir and move the pot around while this is cooking.  The constant  movement will help the rice release starches to make a creamy mixture.  When the rice was done, I added in the mushrooms, garlic and topped it with some white truffle oil. 

My science behind steaks is pretty simple. If  it’s a marbled cut, like; strip, ribeye or filet; than I’ll simply season with salt and pepper and use a compound butter while cooking it in a flat iron. If I have a cut that needs help, like say a sirloin or lesser cut(flank, skirt …) I will use a wet marinade.  

In either case I try to give a minimum of 8 hours of the steak being patted dry and seasoned with salt and pepper.  If I only have an hour before I cook I will season just before cooking.  You need a minimum of 1 hour for the preseason to take the desired effect in locking in the juices.  Additionally I’m always sure to pull the steaks out of the fridge 30 minuted before cooking to let them come up on temp before putting them in the skillet.  Likewise be sure to let them rest 5-10 minuted before cutting. 

In this case I seasoned the steak with salt and pepper first thing in the morning and cooked it about 10 hours later. 

The compound butter is simply, Amish Roll Butter, minced garlic, fresh basil, oregano.  For this particular steak I added grill mates  garlic herb seasoning. Again, I don’t like premixed seasoning; but, that one is a huge winner for this and chicken.

To cook the steak:

 I got my 12 inch cast iron smoking hot, added some bacon fat and then cooked the steak for a few minutes ok each side to form a crust. I then added the compound butter and basted the steak until they were medium to mid rare. 

For the shrimp: 

I peaked, deveined, rinsed and dried the shrimp. Then I smothered them in my blackened seasoning. 

To cook the shrimp: 

I got my ten inch cast iron smoking hot and then added some plain butter and dropped in the shrimp while it was still foaming. Cooked them for 2 minutes a side. 

For the asparagus: 

I marinated the trimmed asparagus with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic.  

When the steaks were done I threw the asparagus in the pan and let them cook for about 5–6 minutes.

Altogether once the risotto is done for this meal, everything else comes together fast. 

To be fair, if everything is prepped ahead of time this entire meal may need 35-40 minutes of cook time. The risotto was cooked first, then the steak and when the steak was done the asparagus and shrimp were cooked at the same time. 

By all means, try this surf and turf at home!  This meal is a great celebratory dinner, a date night meal or just a nice way to have a Friday night dinner.